It's noteworthy that this was lauded for its color cinematography upon release, for sure enough, Charles G. Clarke turned in some fine work. Captured in glorious Technicolor, the sights to greet us are most lovely indeed, above all the gorgeous outdoor filming locations and the beautiful animals who make an appearance. On the other hand, fine as the cinematography is, I don't know if I'd say it was award-worthy; maybe I just had the misfortune of watching a bad copy, but whenever a scene transpires in darkness or low light - which is a fair deal of the length, truthfully - this is unfortunately an example of a picture where it's often difficult as a viewer to discern what is actually happening in a scene. With that said, in my mind 'Sand' doesn't make a great first impression. Ultimately it's otherwise worthwhile and this issue isn't so severe as to wholly dampen the viewing experience, but I'd surely think better of it if as much as half of the story weren't effectively cloaked in darkness.
Setting that aside, this isn't exactly a major must-see, but it's broadly well made and enjoyable. The premise is quite simple as a beloved show horse goes missing, yet from that premise is woven a tale of western adventure as he is sought out in the wilderness; action borne from near-misses, and conflicts between human characters and between "Jubilee" and other animals he encounters in the wild; and blooming romance of both human and equine varieties. Coleen Gray's narration as her character Joan accentuates the overall lighthearted mood, though the telling is punctuated at just the right moments by more robust scenes and even some darker airs. Then again, it does seem to me that there's some inconsistency in how characters are written, specifically with regards to foreman "Chick," and I'm inclined to assume this is an issue of screenwriters Martin Berkeley and Jerome Cady struggling to capture nuance that I assume was in the source material. Still, the core remains solid, especially as the central horse is written with personality as big as he is.
'Sand' is certainly a tremendous credit to the animal trainers and handlers, not to mention to the animals themselves, and every stunt looks terrific. The entirety of the presentation makes scenes out to be more dangerous and thrilling than they actually are, but that Movie Magic in no way diminishes the hard work that was genuinely put in. Though the overarching tone is arguably too light for its own good, Louis King's direction is generally capable, and the cast, too. Everyone else operating behind the scenes turned in swell contributions. All told I don't think this is particularly memorable, but even with its faults it's a suitable good time if one does have the chance to watch. Even at its best this feature isn't something that anyone needs to go out of their way to see, yet it ably plays within the space that it's given to entertain, and sometimes that's all a flick needs to be.
